


Five Seconds

by MegaFrost4



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), I love you 3000, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Superfamily (Marvel), Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28102887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaFrost4/pseuds/MegaFrost4
Summary: Superfamily Endgame Alternate Ending
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Five Seconds

Sam and Bucky both placed their hands on Peter's shaking shoulders, whether as a comfort, or to keep the poor kid from running after the only father he had left, they were not sure. Bruce was going over the machine for the millionth time, after running a thousand tests, making sure everything was going to work out fine.

Big eyes filled to the brim silently begged Captain America on the platform to come back, and to be quick about it.

A nod and smirk reassured the kid that he had nothing to worry about.

Buttons and switches were poked and flipped, making Peter's skin tingle with anticipation.

"Going quantum in three...two...one..."

In a flash, the man disappeared, shrinking between the molecules and soaring through the mysterious quantum realm.

Peter tried to keep it together as the Hulk counted down, giving Steve plenty of time to return the stones and come back to the present.

Five. _He'll be right back. It's fine._

Four. _The Avengers literally just did this to bring us all back._

Three. _But what if something malfunctions?_

Two. _I can't lose you, too, Pops..._

One-

"PAPA?!"

Peter tore his gaze away from the entrance to the quantum tunnel to see a frantic little girl zoom past all of them, with a horrified Pepper and Happy chasing after her.

Leaping into the air, he somer-salted over, landing in front of Morgan, who jumped back in surprise.

"Hey, Sis..." Peter gently put his hands over her shoulders. "Weren't you supposed to get our secret hideout ready?"

"I don't wanna play alone. I want you and Papa!" Morgan whined.

Peter bit his bottom lip, realizing time was up, and...

"What's going on?" Bucky asked Bruce.

"Bring him back _now_!" Sam sneered under his breath.

"Give me a second!" Bruce pressed buttons and flipped switches again.

" _He may not have it!_ " Bucky glared.

"Papa's coming right back." Peter scooped Morgan up, but the little girl was fighting, reaching for the platform.

"When?"

Peter was about to try to answer that when the machine hummed and buzzed. Bright lights illuminated the spot to reveal a tired and confused Steve.

"Pops..." Peter breathed. He did not even notice his little sister jumping down from his now loose grip and running towards the commotion.

Steve Rogers-Stark fell to his knees in tears and caught Morgan in his arms, kissing her little head and stroking her hair.

"Papa?"

"Hi, sweetheart. I'm here...I'm back. I'm so sorry. I'll never leave again, I promise." He kissed her on the cheek.

Her little hand reached up and caught a tear of his. "Did you find Daddy?"

Steve's heart broke. "I...Papa is so sorry." He hugged her tighter, rocking them back and forth on the grass.

Peter crept closer to the two, not wanting to scare Morgan anymore. "Pops?"

"Come here, son." Steve reached with a free arm to embrace Peter as well.

"I'm so glad you're back." Peter whispered. "I can't lose you, too, I just can't."

"Of course I'm back..." Steve frowned. "How long was I gone?"

"About five seconds too long." Bruce answered from behind them. "Did you run into some trouble?"

"Well, trouble's a very generic way of putting it." Steve laughed.

"What, did you see a ghost?" Bucky teased.

"Actually, I did..." Steve swallowed hard. "And you'll never guess who it was."

"Peggy?"

"No. Another blast from the past...Red Skull."

"You've gotta be shitting me." Bucky's stomach flipped.

Steve protectively covered Morgan's only ear not buried in his chest. " _Language!_ "

"Was a stone in Germany or something? How in the he- _world_ did you see him?"

"He's the guardian of the Soul Stone...the Tessaract brought him there right before I hit the ice."

"Well, I'd pay good money to have seen that." Bucky could not believe it, but then a lot of things have happened that were a bit out of the ordinary.

"It was a bit anti-climatic...being stuck on an icy rock for eighty years will change a guy...even Schmidt."

"Bruce, we got any more of that juice to jump time again?" Bucky asked half-seriously. "I'd like to give someone a piece of my mind."

"I know you do, man, but we don't need to be screwing up any more time lines than _they_ already did the first go around." Sam said.

"He's right. If we do anything else, who knows what might be messed up today. We can't risk any pleasure cruises..." Bruce agreed. "Which is why I'm shutting this thing down, for good. Since the Hulk has been tamed, can't really go to town on it..."

"Aw, you're no fun, Uncle Bruce." Peter pouted. He had been dying to see the Hulk in action for years now, and it had been too long.

"Sorry, kid. I'm a bit boring nowadays."

"Papa?" Steve looked down to his adopted daughter. "Can I have a juice pop?"

"Anything you want, sweetheart." Steve stood up and carried her to the house, followed by the remaining Avengers, who were all prepared to finally put the past behind them.

* * *

"Goodnight, Morgan." Steve leaned over and kissed the sleepy girl. "I love you so much."

"I love you 3000." Morgan grinned.

Steve wanted to melt into the floor, his legs almost gave out from underneath him. "Really? _3000_? Well, I love you 3000 and..." He kissed her on the nose, "one."

She giggled then yawned.

"Get some sleep, ok? Papa's gonna be right outside if you need me."

Steve cracked the door a little, Morgan's night light shining part of the little hallway to Peter's room. He was not surprised to see the teen wide awake on his laptop.

"You ok?" Steve leaned against the door.

"Fine. Yeah. Just browsing." Peter failed to hide the puffiness of his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Peter."

"For what?" Peter shifted in the bed so Steve could sit down.

Steve took a breath. "By the time I came to...I couldn't get to him in time...he had already..."

"No, Pops, no, _don't_ do that..." Peter started crying with Steve. "Remember, Doctor Strange had told Dad that there was only one chance, _one chance_...he..."

 _I still find that hard to believe._ Steve thought bitterly. _Out of 14 million, there was only one? Just one? Not even a second option..._

He was not sure if he would ever get over this whole thing.

"I could've tried harder..." Steve said. "And we could've all finally been happy again..."

Peter sniffed. "I think we can." He tried to be positive. "I think Dad made sure that we could...he made the fighting stop..."

Steve let another tear fall. _Yet another war you stopped caused by my stupidity. I owe you so much, Tony._

"I'm just glad you're back...I know it was only a few seconds, but for me, it felt like...like I was asleep again...alone in that dark place..."

"Hey, hey, hey..." Steve soothed. "You don't have to talk about it right now, if you don't want to. You know Sam is much better at this than all of us."

"Yeah, ok, it's just...I was scared you weren't coming back this time."

Steve hugged his son, rubbing soothing circles on his tight back. "I will _always_ come back. I promise."

* * *

Steve was not sure he could do it, but day by day, month by month, the Avengers still held on to their promise to protect the world and their surrounding allies. Although some of them have scattered a lot farther than he was comfortable with, technology in 2023 was far superior than he could have possibly imagined, what with all Tony left behind, and being in good terms with Wakanda and Carol Danvers and the Guardians, everyone anyone wanted to talk to was just a few clicks away.

And that gave Steve hope for the future.

The future was now a lot safer after Tony's sacrifice, and with the Infinity Stones destroyed and the past returned to the past, the universe had lost that menacing temptation. Maybe what Thanos did five years ago when he destroyed the Stones was a blessing in disguise, so someone else could not come along down the road and try to repeat the Decimation.

No matter how he looked at it though, Steve knew nothing could bring Tony back. He had begged Stephen Strange to use the Time Stone before he went on his quest so he could heal him. But Stephen did not want to risk undoing what had to be done to save the universe. And the universe could not go on with Thanos still alive.

Steve wanted to hate the man, but knew he was right. He could not afford to be selfish, if he wanted to jeopardize all of reality again.

And even though Tony was gone, he still lived on through his children and his legacy, his lasting impression on everyone he touched in his life, and the fond memories they shared.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I am a sucker for Superfamily, and now we add Morgan to the mix? *melts* Also, I did not like the ending of Endgame, call me selfish, but I wanted Steve to stay, so that was why I wrote this fic. I hope you enjoy!


End file.
